How I Realized Your Mother was Really the One
by JuliaBeth
Summary: A/U: Different mother. Ted spent years looking for the one without realizing she'd been there all along. Chapter 3 up.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I hate the way the show treated the Mother. It felt like she was just someone to have the kids Ted wanted until Robin was ready to marry him, so this is my attempt to correct that. I own nothing you recognize.

Ted was floored. He couldn't believe that Lily had left Marshall. They had been together since the first week of college. He had kept his enthusiasm about his relationship with Robin in check while Marshall had mourned Lily's departure. He'd tried to be there for him, but finally he had to go to work, so he called in reinforcements.

Randi Ericksen showed up at exactly 8:30 a.m. "That bitch!" she exclaimed when he opened the door.

He held up his hands to stop her, but halfway agreed with her. "I wouldn't," he warned stepping aside to let her in. "Where's Devon?"

"At work. So where is Marshall?"

"Well, he's not asleep on the foot of Ted's bed," Robin said, appearing from the bathroom. "Oh, wait. Yes, he is."

Randi shot a disbelieving look at Ted before turning back to Robin. "Hi," she said, acidly. "We haven't met. I'm Marshall's sister. Who are you?"

"That's right." Ted replied. "Randi, this is Robin. Robin, this is Randi Eriksen."

"Oh, so you're Robin," Randi said. "Nice to meet you." The tone of her voice belying the words.

"Same here," Robin shot back.

After a few awkward moments, Ted clapped his hands together. "Alright. Well, Robin and I have to get to work. Just call if you need anything." He handed Robin her jacket and picked up his own. He stopped at the doorway.  
"Hey, Randi?"

"Yeah?" She walked over to the door.

"Marshall's really taking this hard. Try not to give him too much hell about it, okay?"

"And just how much hell should I give my brother who just lost his fiancee after 6 years together?" She grinned.

"I think you'll give just the right amount," Ted shot back. "Just don't call Lily a bitch. In fact, I wouldn't even mention Lily."

"Got it. Hey, Ted, thanks for looking out for him." Randi pulled him into a hug. "He's lucky to have a friend like you."

"No problem," he replied, hugging her back.

"Marshall has a sister?" Robin asked as they stepped out on to the street.

Ted nodded. "She's usually pretty sweet. She and Lily just have... a few issues. I took her to her senior prom."

"You dated your best friend's sister?" She smirked.

"Well, her jackass of a boyfriend stood her up to go nintendo or something. Marshall and I were there on a school break and all Marshall was going to do was mope around because Lily in France, so I figured why not?"

"What happened to the boyfriend?"

"They made up the next morning and she eventually married the jerk," he replied. "They live on the upper east side. Turns out, he made a fortune creating video games."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I hate the way the show treated the Mother. It felt like she was just someone to have the kids Ted wanted until Robin was ready to marry him, so this is my attempt to correct that. I own nothing you recognize.

"It must be bad if Ted called you to come over," Marshall said, coming out of the bedroom.

"He thinks you're going to do something drastic," Randi replied. "How about we drastically go get some food? I'm starving and you two have six bottles of beer, two bottles of ketchup, and a gallon of milk that is way past it's date. I hope Ted's girlfriend knows how to grocery shop because you suck at it."

"Ted does the shopping."

"Well, in that case, he sucks. That refrigerator looks more like a science experiment than somewhere to store food."

"Well, we can't all afford a grocery delivery service," Marshall rolled his eyes.

"Be that as it may, we're going to get food. Get dressed."

"Can't you just call your service, if you're so hungry?"

"No." Randi said, pushing him towards his room. "First, they only deliver in a five mile radius of the store, and second, you need to get out of this apartment. Now, don't make me put these clothes on you." She handed him a pair of jeans and a Wesleyan t-shirt.

"So, tell me more about Robin," Randi said as they walked down the street.

"We met her about a year ago at MacLarens. She and Ted went on a date. He completely blew it, then spent most of last year trying to get her to change her mind. He finally succeeded as you can see," Marshall replied. "She's pretty cool. She's a reporter for New York 1."

"I've seen her," she said. "That's the channel they tune all the hospital TV's to."

They walked in amicable silence for a few minutes before she broke the peace. "Marshall, be honest, does Ted have any reason to be that worried?"

Marshall didn't answer right away, then finally said, "He did, but I think I'm past that now."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"You're doing it now," he said, then brightened a bit. "Hey, let's go in here. They have the best doughnuts." He pointed to a small coffee shop.

"How did it go?" Ted asked when he got home that evening, this time without Robin but with Barney.

"Fine. Marshall ate himself into a cro-nut coma and went to sleep," she replied. "I've just been sitting here, seeing what you tivo. Prison sluts 6?"

"That's actually Lily's," he replied, turning slightly red.

"Okay, well, my psyche can handle it being yours better than knowing what kinky stuff they were into," she grinned. "So, I'm going to pretend it's yours."

"You remember Barney, don't you?" Ted asked, hoping to change the subject.

She nodded. "What's up?"

Barney nodded, taking a seat by her. "I've only seen 1 through 5," he replied, taking the remote from her.

"And on that note, I think I'll leave," Randi replied, getting to her feet.

Ted walked her to the door.

"I don't know what the worst was," she told him, "but Marshall swears he's over it."

"It was pretty bad," Ted acknowledged. "Hey, we're going to try to get him to go to MacLarens. Want to go with us?"

She looked at her watch. "Nah, I got to go. Dev'll be home soon."

Something about her tone stopped Ted short. He took her hand. "How are you, Randi? Are you okay?"

She nodded, and kind of smiled. "I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's great."

"You know, we're here right?" he asked. "If it's ever not fine?"

"I know, Ted. I count on it," she smiled for real this time. She stepped into his embrace.

Was it just his imagination that she lingered a little and hugged him a little tighter than usual?

Please R&R.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I hate the way the show treated the Mother. It felt like she was just someone to have the kids Ted wanted until Robin was ready to marry him, so this is my attempt to correct that. I own nothing you recognize.

* * *

"So Marshall," Randi began. They were sitting in the regular booth at MacLaren's. Since Lily's departure, Randi had been hanging around more and more. "I know the perfect girl for you."

"I had the perfect girl," he replied.

"Marshall, don't make me be mean to you," she replied. "Now listen, you have to date again sometime and Kylie is really great."

"Translation: Ugly," Barney supplied.

"She is not ugly," Randi replied, showing him a picture on her phone.

"Dibs," he shouted.

"No dibs," she said. "I've already warned her about you. Anyway, Marshall, she is pediatric nurse. She plays tennis, she is open to the existance of the supernatural, and she is a Vikings fan. So, want to meet her?" She showed him her phone.

"I don't know," Marshall stalled. "I'm really not ready to date."

"I'll take her," Barney said.

"No. She's Marshall's date."

"Marshall doesn't want her. Please let me have her."

"Ew. She's not a thing. She's a person," Randi rolled her eyes. "Besides, they're not real."

"Who cares?" he scoffed.

"Randi is right," Ted spoke up. "At least meet her. And Randi, Barney's right. No guy cares if they're real or not."

"Well, maybe you could bring her by here sometime," Marshall conceded. "I could talk to her at least."

"Great! I'll get her to come over tomorrow."

* * *

1997

"I know your parents aren't going to be home when we're on spring break," Marshall said, coming into his and Ted's dorm room. "So, my folks said you're welcome at our place if you want to get out the dorms."

Ted nodded, pretending it didn't matter to him that he wasn't going home, or that his parents chose a cruise over seeing him. Years later he would find out that it was marriage retreat. "Yeah, cool. Whatever. It'll be something to do."

"Cool. We'll leave tomorrow morning." He looked around at all he needed to pack. "Let's go get some snacks. We'll get some Tantrum, take turns on the driving, and be there early Saturday morning."

"That is a great idea," Ted replied. "Let's do it. Hey, what about Lily?"

"She's going to some artist retreat upstate," Marshall answered. "Besides, my parents would make her sleep in Randi's room, so what's the point?"

Ted had been having a 'sandwich' and didn't completely grasp what that meant about Randi and assumed he was Marshall's older brother who was already out the house. That assumption would lead him into possibly one of the most embarrassing moments of his life to that point.

* * *

2007

"Hey," Randi said, walking up the usual booth at MacLaren's. "Everyone, this is Kylie James. She works with me at St. Luke's Hospital. Kylie, this is Ted, Robin, Barney, and my brother, Marshall."

"Nice to meet you," Kylie smiled.

"Here, sit down," Ted said, giving her his seat across from Marshall and grabbing two chairs from a nearby table for Randi and himself.

"So, how did you and Randi meet?" Robin asked.

"Well, on team spirit day during nurse's week at the hospital, we were the only two rep-ing the purple and gold, so I had to go introduce myself."

"Then I realized what a fabulous person she was and recruited her to the pediatric ER with me," Randi said.

"You're a Vikings fan?" Marshall asked,

"Had to be," she laughed. "My dad was a Fred Cox fan."

"So, then..." Marshall started.

"No," Randi interrupted. "Marshall don't. We don't want to hear it?"

"What?" Kylie asked.

"Marshall is going to ask you a million questions to prove you really are a Vikings fan," Ted replied.

"Or anything else you're into," Robin laughed.

"Oh," Kylie said. "So, how did you all meet?"

"Well, Ted and I were roommates in college," Marshall said. "We met Barney here, and Robin, you met Ted and Barney here, didn't you?"

"In a rousing game of 'Have you met Ted?'" she replied. "I think I met you and Lily here too, didn't I?"

"I was thinking it was at the apartment, but you're right," Marshall said. "Geez, that makes it sound like we spend all our time here."

"We do," Ted laughed.

"Because we're awesome," Barney said.

It was at the point that Ted realized that Randi was smirking at him.

"What?"

"Remember how we 'officially' met?"

Ted groaned and covered his face. "Is that ever going to die?"

"Nope," Randi laughed.

"Randy's a girl?!" Marshall imitated a younger Ted.

"What are they talking about?" Robin asked Ted.

"Marshall told me that he had three brothers," Ted said.

"No, I told you I had three siblings," he corrected.

"Yeah, named Marvin Jr., Marcus, and Randy. What would you think they

were?" Ted explained indignantly.

* * *

1997

Ted and Marshal made it to St. Cloud in a little over eighteen hours, instead of the normal twenty, crashing in the Eriksen house just after 10 pm. Ted was surprised that Marvin Sr., wasn't mad at the obvious speeding they had been doing, just amazed at how good of time they'd made. As they took their bags upstairs, Ted asked Marshall where the bathroom was, since they had been pounding Tantrum since 4 am, and Marshall had refused to stop, even for the bathroom, in the last three hours.

Ted rushed into the bathroom, barely getting the door shut before relieving himself.

"Oh my God, what are you doing?!"

Ted's head snapped to the left and even though he hadn't thought it would be humanly possible, everything froze.

Sitting on the vanity, painting her toenails was a cute redheaded girl.

"Um..., um..., who, who are you?"

"Randi," she replied. "Who are you?"

"Um..., T..Ted," he stammered.

"Well, UmTed, are you going to put that away soon?" She motioned below his waist.

"Right," Ted quickly corrected the situation. "Sorry." He rushed out the door.

"Randi is a girl?! Ted sputter bursting into Marshall's bedroom.

"Well, yeah. Don't know any guys named Miranda," he replied.

"You could have mentioned that before now," Ted said.

"Sorry, Dude," Marshall laughed. "What's the big deal?"

"She was in the bathroom and I didn't see her until I was already midstream," he replied.

"You peed on my sister?"

"What?! No, she was painting her nails," Ted explained.

"Maybe you should learn to knock," Miranda said frim the doorway.

"I am so sorry," Ted apologized.

"Whatever," Randi shrugged. "It's not like I never seen a penis before. Night."

* * *

Please R&R.


End file.
